Love Live Super Star Season 1 finished today with episode 12. This was probably my favorite first season for a Love Live yet and easily the best Love Live has ever looked. The five members of Liella are a great group with no weak links! Kanon, the leader is definitely my favorite. I think her main struggle of stage fright and lack of confidence is relatable, and seeing her grow to become an actual determined leader is definitely the highlight of season 1. Similarly, I actually enjoyed every song this season! Usually there are one or two that are just fine and don’t click with me. The OP Start!! True Dreams is my clear favorite, and I also really dug Mirai Wa Kaze No You Ni (the ending song), Mirai Yoho Halleujah (from episode 1), Tiny Stars (episode 3), and Dreaming Energy (which I already liked walking in after seeing their Anime Expo Lite concert). Very excited for the last few songs (especially episode 12’s song!) to hit iTunes. One last thing, I loved the owl and especially the dog in Super Star and I hope we see more of them. It’s too early to say how Super Star ranks against the original and Sunshine, but yeah I really loved season 1.
I was also very happy today I finally got the third Hajime No Ippo collection in the mail and the first Girls Und Panzer Das Finale film. I haven’t seen the latter yet, but I did dive into the Ippo set and really enjoyed episode 76 and especially enjoyed the Kimura Vs Mashiba OVA. The latter had everything I love about the series with an exciting build up to the boxing title fight with cool training sessions and just enough scenes to know and care about the stakes for both characters. The actual fight was super intense and awesome as it was mostly a beatdown until things started to shift. I had accidentally read about the outcome prior, but it didn’t make it any less exciting as the fight dragged on and the final blows were landed. Seriously forgot about it in the heat of the moment (when Inner Light played even as just an instrumental it was still pure hype). Man I really hope Discotek licenses the second and third seasons, I really want to see all of the Ippo anime out there! Incidentally, I can’t recommend Hajime No Ippo enough to all anime fans if you haven’t seen it. The first and third seasons are on Crunchyroll.